After decades of pressure from historians and Jewish groups, the Vatican on Monday began allowing scholars access to the archives of Pope Pius XII, the controversial World War II-era pontiff.

Roman Catholic Church officials have always insisted that Pius did everything possible to save Jewish lives. But he remained publicly silent while some 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

More than 150 scholars have applied to study documents covering his papacy, which lasted from 1939 to 1958. Typically, the Vatican waits 70 years after the end of a pontificate to open its archives to scholars.

In a speech delivered at the 37th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Netanyahu described a meeting between Hitler and then Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, in which he implied it was actually al-Husseini who wanted to exterminate Jews from Europe. Hitler? Apparently he just needed a little encouragement.

Politicians and historians were quick to denounce Netanyahu’s speech, the theme of which was “10 big lies.”

“He moves the responsibility of the Holocaust, for the destruction of the Jews, to the mufti and the Arab world,” Professor Moshe Zimmerman of Hebrew University said in response. “This is a trick intended to stain the Arabs of today because of the Arabs of the past.”

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined the international community in its criticism.

“All Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust,” said Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert.

“This is taught in German schools for good reason, it must never be forgotten. And I see no reason to change our view of history in any way. We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own.”